Bridges-Johnson House
Off TX 6, SW of Meridian, Meridian, TXThe Bridges-Johnson House is rare in both plan and construction techniques. Concrete octagonal rooms flanking a breezeway are unique among the known extant buildings in Texas. Although lime concrete was used along the Gulf Coast prior to the Civil War, it was rare in the sparsely settled, inland regions. Octagonal forms for residences are practically unknown in Texas, unlike the northeastern states, which can boast many examples. The house represents an innovative local adaptation of a distantly popular style.
At the time the house was erected the town of Meridian was only about six years old. It had been laid out by Goerge B. Erath, an immigrant from Austria who had been prominent in Texas military activities. However, the town was not incorporated until 1874. Later in the century, numerous Norwegian immigrants settled in the rural areas surrounding Meridian.
According to the Deed Records of Bosque County, W. H. Bridges purchased thirty-six acres of land from John Abney for $146 in 1861. Bridges was a physician who had moved to Texas from Georgia. In 1862 this same acreage was sold to Alfred Fine and his wife, Rachel for the sum of $1100. This increase in property value indicates the construction of the double-octagon house. The property then changed ownership several times before W.T. Johnson purchased it in 1882. The house remained in the Johnson family until 1965 when it was purchased by Jack Kirbey. Several years later the present owner, Richard D. Bass, a wealthy oilman, acquired the property.
Possibly the builder of the unusual dwelling was familiar with octagonal buildings elsewhere in the state of Texas as well as in the United States. Orson Squire Fowler, a Phrenologist, made the octagonal mode known through his 1848 book, A Home for All, or a New Cheap, Convenient, and Superior Mode of Building. In this volume, octagonal construction was described. In addition, walls formed with a mixture of water, lime, gravel, and sand were described in the latter volume, similar to the type used in the double octagon near Meridian.
Within the state, other examples of the octagonal mode appeared in the president's house at Baylor University, Independence, and in the Tarrant County Courthouse of 1876 in Fort Worth. Neither of these buildings exists today.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.